File folder paper fastener

ABSTRACT

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a paper sheet holder composed of a rigid strip having a hole in each of opposite ends of a small diameter and each hole having spirally twisted thereinto a base end of a spiral coil spring, the opposite end of each spring having at least the last coil thereof twisted to serve as a hook coil for engaging the hook coil of the other spring, each of the two coil springs having a diameter greater than its respective hole into which it is twisted, and each spring being threaded though aligned hole of stacked sheets of paper having two holes spaced one from the other at opposite ends of the paper sheets, with the under side of the springs-mounted strip having a masking surface adhered thereto with a sheet rigid backing leaf mounted to the masking materials exposed surface.

[11] 3,822,950 1451 *July 9,1974

[ FILE FOLDER PAPER FASTENER Coleman R. Chamberlin, PO. Box 84, Windsor,NY. 12550 [76] Inventor:

[ Notice: The portion of the term of this patent subsequent to Dec. 19,1989, has been disclaimed.

[22] Filed: Mar. 26, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 344,849

[52] [1.8. CI 402/15, 402/18, 402/57 [51] Int. Cl B42f 3/06 [58] Fieldof Search 402/15, 18, 13, 14, 12, 402/75, 8, 19, 20; 24/67 R [56]References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 828,974 8/1906 Schmidmer 402/57960,672 6/1910 Murphy 402/57 X 960,673 6/1910 Murphy 402/57 X 1,224,0624/1917 Boor 24/27 1,747,246 2/1930 Jonas 402/18 1,906,690 5/1933Liebowitz r 1 402/18 X 3,706,501 12/1972 Chamberlin 402/15 FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 648,593 8/1937 Germany 402/13 694,534 7/1953Great Britain 402/12 Primary Examiner-Jerome Schnall [5 7] ABSTRACT In apreferred embodiment of the invention, a paper sheet holder composed ofa rigid strip having a hole in each of opposite ends of a small diameterand each hole having spirally twisted thereinto a base end of a spiralcoil spring, the opposite end of each spring having at least the lastcoil thereof twisted to serve as a hook coil for engaging the hook coilof the other spring, each of the two coil springs having a diametergreater than its respective hole into which it is twisted, and eachspring being threaded though aligned hole of stacked sheets of paperhaving two holes spaced one from the other at opposite ends of the papersheets, with the underside of the springs-mounted strip having a maskingsurface adhered thereto with a sheet rigid backing leaf mounted to themasking materials exposed surface.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 'FILE FOLDER PAPER FASTENER I Thisinvention is directed to a paper holder of one or more, preferably astack of sheets each sheet having two spaced mounting holes along acommon edge.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Prior to the present invention, there haveexisted a variety of different types of paper mounts of the general typeto which this invention is directed. The inventors own patent U.S.Patent 3,706,501 having most recently issued on such a general typeholder and fastener represents a distinct improvement overprior holdersand fasteners, for reasons amply set forth in that patent. Prior to thatpatent however, as well as in that patent, the complexity of thestructure for mounting substantially increases the cost thereofparticularly in the assemblying of the parts. For example German patent648593 discloses the binding together of opposing flanges of stackedsheets but with the base-ends of the two springs being anchored by aspecial screw clamp, and also the joining ends of the opposing springsbeing modified by a mounted hook-element; both the screw fastener foreach spring and the special hook elements are extra parts that must bebought and mounted securely by artisans, and the patent requires as apart of its operative structure a book binder having the opposingflanges. In a Swedish patent 74495, there is no good disclosure as tohow the opposite springs are attached to a common strip, but it may beassumed from the figures thereof that the spring ends are weldedthereto, with the strip being attached retainingly to a base member andthe coil springs are secured only indirectly by threading into thespiral channel of each spring opposite ends of a common cylindrical rodmember. U.S. Pat. No. 1,437,329 requires the employment of springshaving a widened base of coils, while also for each spring requiring ascrew clamp for screwing down into the coil of each spring for therebybinding a cover thereto on top of mounted paper, while U.S. Pat. No.1,289,454 by the same screw principle binds each of opposite ends of thespring to respective opposite book leafs. The German patent 369115 isbasically analogous in disclosure to the above noted Swedish patent74495, except employing a bent rod the ends of which are spaced apartfrom one another further than the holes of the paper are spaced from oneanother.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Together with objects some of which are incommon with the prior patented invention of U.S. Pat. No. 3,706,501, aprincipal object of this invention is to obtain a simplified binder andfastener of low cost of materials and of assemblying thereof, and ofsimple and easy operation, while being of durable structure.

Another object is for the sheets or cards when bound, being such thatwhen the sheets are bent back, the tops of each sheet are visible.

Another object is to obtain a novel base anchoring means for thebase-mounting portion of each coil spring.

Another object is to obtain an improved combination of backing memberand fastener for the mounting of paper, while achieving one or more ofthe preceding objects.

Other objects become apparent from the preceding and followingdisclosure.

One or more objects of the present invention are obtained by theinvention as defined herein.

Broadly the invention includes a rigid or semi-rigid strip of plastic ormetal of flattened shape and having adjacent each of opposite endsthereof through apertures of a predetermined size, and employing foreach hole a separate spiral coil spring of a diameter greater than thatof the aperture, with the bottom one or more coils of the coil springbeing spirally twisted into and through the aperture of the strip suchthat one or more coils of the spring are retainingly located below thestrip, while the free ends of each of the two springs have the finalfree-end coil twisted such as to serve as a hook for onethereof and theother serving also as either a hook or as an engaging loop of one ormore coil loops, thereby. avoiding the need for special attaching meanson the free ends of the springs, and also merely requiring the hole (perspring) in the metal strip through which the spring of greater diametermay be easily screwed and thusly impossible to pull-out withoutconsciously un-screwing the spring therefrom, and thusly avoiding theneed of special fastening screws or of bent portions of the strip or thelike, while still offering the advantages of all of the prior paperfasteners but at considerably reduced complexity and cost of materialsand considerably reduced cost of maunfacturing labor. In a preferredembodiment, a masking strip having an adhesive coating on each ofopposite faces covers and secures the otherwise bare spring coils, andserves as a means for neatly mounting a back leaf. Also, a preferredcombination includes the bound paper, such as regular paper, plasticsheets, cardboard or the like.

THE FIGURES FIG. 1 illustrates a typically bound stack of twoholed paperutilizing the novel fastener of this invention, in perspective view.

FIG. 2 illustrates in similar perspective view the bound paper of FIG.1, but with the stack opened to freely display the full face of each ofopposing pages.

base-end coils spiral-screwed through the aperture of the strip, itbeing shown that the aperture is of smaller diameter than the springcoil diameter, the strip being shown in part view. Also in cross-sectionthe masking tape with an adhesive coating layer on each of oppositefaces and the mounted back leaf are shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Unlike binders of some of the prior art discussedunder the background above, the present inventive fastener andbound-paper combination does not necessarily nor preferably have a frontbinder leaf, this feature facilitating the removal of and/or addition ofsheets from the bound stack, and the simple mechanism of binding oranchoring the base of each spring avoids the possibility that a screw orother fastener of the types utilized by the prior art patents mightstrip-loose over the threads of the binding screw or the like, while thepresent inventive anchoring mechanism employing a hole of smallerdiameter than the diameter of the helix of the spiral spring eliminatesany possibility of the springs of this invention from pulling loose, aswell as detaching of the spring from the back support where utilized isnot necessary for the mounting and/or dismounting of sheets of paper orof cards, as the case may be. Because the present invention does not, ina preferred embodiment, have a front binder, the top sheet is readilyavailable for writing thereon, and gives a clean appearance.Additionally, however, because there is no front binder adding bulk andtension against the spring in the open turned-back state as viewed inFIG. 2, it is more easily possible for the turned back pages to beturned completely out-of-the-way so as to display the full portion ofthe turned-back page as well as the full portion of the next face-uppage, including the portions adjacent the bound edges of each page.Moreover, a back binder of the conventional stiff type is not requiredsince the spring-mounting strip extending preferably between the twospring base positions is at least sufficiently rigid as to avoid thebending thereof by connecting of the joining-ends of the opposingsprings which naturally serves to place bending torque onto the springsmounting strip.

On the other hand, where a reinforcing backing leaf of rigidconstruction and properties is to be employed as a part of thecombination, it is possible even to use two separate mounting stripbases each with a single hole therein receivable of its respectivespring base to be screwed into the small aperture-hole.

In greater particularity, FIGS. 1 and 2 disclose closed-back andopen-book states of a typical embodiment of a preferred combination unit6 having top sheet 7 ofa stack of sheets stacked on top ofa backingsheet 12, with opposing coil springs 8a and 8b each having a lastfree-end coil bent into hook and ring, respectively, relationship atabout perpendicular positions to the planes of the other bodyend-portion (of the free end) spirals, illustrated as bent end-coils 9in the joined state in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, the back-of-page sheet face71) and the front-of-page face 7a of additional sheets ofthe stack aredisclosed, both of faces 7a and 7b being fully visible and accessiblefor use; note that if there were a rigid front binding leaf, or if therewere merely a short spring anchored in the front, the unstretchedportions (i.e. remaining stretchable portions) of each of the opposingsprings 8a and 8b as shown in FIG. I would not be available as it isavailable in this invention to freely slip through the respective holes13a and 13b of stacked sheets it being this feature which allows theFIG. 2 free turn-back of the pages to readily expose the whole of face7b and face 7a.

In FIG. 3, there is shown an elevation plan view ofthe back leaf 12 ofthe FIG. 1 embodiment, with the back leaf I2 anchored to the strip 10 bythe masking material 11 having adhesive coatings on opposite faces,being shown in cut-away in order to fully disclose (for purpose of thisdescription) each of the masking strip 11 adhered to the preferablymetal strip 10, as well as the nature of the screwed-through base-coilsof spring 8b through the strip-aperture 13a of smaller diameter than thediameter of the coils of the coil spring 8b.

In FIG. 4, there is shown an in-part view of one end of a preferredstrip with the aperture (for the mounting of the spring base of the coilspring) with the base coil screwed through but having the base-endtwisted to a hook-form coil 8a and hooked through the aperture andaround the strip end, thereby further anchoring the spring againsttwisting and/or pulling-out of the strip aperture.

FIG. 5, on the other hand, illustrates for the same type of base strip10' typically the other end of the strip 10 with the spring end-coils 8bscrew spirally through the strip aperture of smaller diameter than thatof the end-coils 8b, whereby the screwed-through coils 8b are notwithdrawable through the aperture by pulling torque on the spring. Thecross-sectional relationship of the adhesive coatings l4 and 14 of themasking tape 11, and the adhered leaf 12.

It is to be understood that the above illustrative F igures are forpurposes of better disclosing the nature and heart of the invention butare not intended to unduly limit the invention which includes thesubstitution of obvious equivalents and/or modifications and variationsas would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill,

I claim:

1. A sheet fastener comprising in combination: two separate elongatedcoil springs of predetermined length and diameter of the coils thereof,each having one endcoil bent axially from the body of the coil spring asa whole such that the bent one end-coil of one of the two springs isdetachably hookable into the bent one endcoil of the other of the twosprings; and base means providing a flattened-face element for each ofthe remaining opposite end of each of said two springs defining for eachrespective spring remaining opposite end an aperture in its respectiveflattened-face element, the aperture for one of said two springs beingspaced from a predetermined distance from the aperture for the other oneof said two springs, each aperture being of a predetermined diametersmaller than the diameter of its respective springs coil, the remainingopposite end of one of the two coil springs being spiraltwisted throughone of said apertures such that at least one of the coils thereof islocated retainingly on an opposite side of the element from theflattened-face side of the flattened-face element, and the other of thesprings having its remaining opposite end spiral-twisted through theother of said apertures such that at least one of the coils thereof islocated retainingly on an opposite side of the element from theflattened-face side of the flattened-face element, the base meansextending lineally and being substantially rigid between said spacedapertures, whereby each of the springs are extendable upwardly throughholes in opposite ends of at least one sheet of paper along a commonedge of the paper and bent end-coils engagable with one-another to bindthe sheet while the rigid base means retains the planar surface shape ofthe paper against the torque of the joined springs tending tobring-together opposite ends of the sheet, said base means being acommon single element in the form of an elongated flat strip definingsaid flattened-face element for each said springs, said flat striphaving each of opposite ends with one of said apertures located about anend adjacent thereto, the remaining opposite end of each of said springsbeing coil-hooked through the aperture thereof and around the strip-endedge thereof retainingly of the paper sheets each having two spacedholes along a common edge thereof, with the respective holes of theplurality of sheets being aligned with one-another for the opposite endsthereof, and one of said springs extending through one series of alignedholes and the other of said springs extending through another series ofaligned holes of the plurality of sheets, the plurality of sheets beingin a stacked relationship to oneanother.

1. A sheet fastener comprising in combination: two separate elongatedcoil springs of predetermined length and diameter of the coils thereof,each having one end-coil bent axially from the body of the coil springas a whole such that the bent one endcoil of one of the two springs isdetachably hookable into the bent one end-coil of the other of the twosprings; and base means providing a flattened-face element for each ofthe remaining opposite end of each of said two springs defining for eachrespective spring remaining opposite end an aperture in its respectiveflattened-face element, the aperture for one of said two springs beingspaced from a predetermined distance from the aperture for the other oneof said two springs, each aperture being of a predetermined diametersmaller than the diameter of its respective spring''s coil, theremaining opposite end of one of the two coil springs beingspiraltwisted through one of said apertures such that at least one ofthe coils thereof is located retainingly on an opposite side of theelement from the flattened-face side of the flattened-face element, andthe other of the springs having its remaining opposite endspiral-twisted through the other of said apertures such that at leastone of the coils thereof is located retainingly on an opposite side ofthe element from the flattened-face side of the flattened-face element,the base means extending lineally and being substantially rigid betweensaid spaced apertures, whereby each of the springs are extendableupwardly through holes in opposite ends of at least one sheet of paperalong a common edge of the paper and bent end-coils engagable withone-another to bind the sheet while the rigid base means retains theplanar surface shape of the paper against the torque of the joinedsprings tending to bring-together opposite ends of the sheet, said basemeans being a common single element in the form of an elongated flatstrip defining said flattened-face element for each said springs, saidflat strip having each of opposite ends with one of said apertureslocated about an end adjacent thereto, the remaining opposite end ofeach of said springs being coil-hooked through the aperture thereof andaround the strip-end edge thereof retainingly of the spring, and amasking sheet having adhesive coatings on opposite faces adhesivelymounted by one of said adhesive coatings over the back side of the stripconcealable of the engaged remaining opposite end of each of the springsfor each of the apertures thereof, said sheet being mounted fixedly ontothe strip back side.
 2. A sheet fastener of claim 1, including a rigidbook-leaf sheet having an upper face along one edge thereof adhesivelyanchored to said mounted masking sheet.
 3. A sheet fastener of claim 2,including a plurality of paper sheets each having two spaced holes alonga common edge thereof, with the respective holes of the plurality ofsheets being aligned with one-another for the opposite ends thereof, andone of said springs extending through one series of aligned holes andthe other of said sPrings extending through another series of alignedholes of the plurality of sheets, the plurality of sheets being in astacked relationship to one-another.